Crimson Cross
by HotSpot1988
Summary: Carrie's past has been a ball of secrets. To know what happened that was so terrible she has to resurface memorys that Ponyboy really doesnt want to remember. Can she help him get past the pain? Can he help her understand her past? Long oneshot. Ponys ol


(AN and Disclaimer: I don't claim any of the characters. The only ones I own are the ones you don't recognize. I think I might have gotten time periods sorta mixed up, but I hope you just go with it. If you find any mistakes review and tell me about them and what I need to fix! Hope you enjoy the story!)  
  
Crimson Cross  
  
By CiCi  
  
The heat of fire was coming closer now. Its breath of sulfur and tobacco bared down on her pale white cheeks and smudged them black. Frantically, trying to escape its twisting tendrils of smoke, the little girl hid in the corner while the others tried to find a window, a place of escape. A cracking sound was heard through the roar of the flaming beast and light poured in. A calloused hand tried to grab at her, but she bit one of the fingers, hard. A shriek echoed through out the building.  
  
Suddenly, as quick as it came the sixteen year old was woken from her never ending nightmare. For years now that nightmare seemed to plague her mind with its evil. She didn't quite understand what it was about and tried to go to her parents for comfort, but they would hear of no such thing. They refused to talk with her about it hoping that the dreams would stop. The dreams always seemed to start with two little girls going into a church wanting to see the deserted alter and pews and ending up with a hand trying to grab one of the little girls. Was the hand harmful or was it there for protection? Endless questions filled her mind as she casually drifted back off to sleep.  
  
Light poured in through the slits in the blinds while the teen slept through the morning. She awoke with a yawn and glanced at the clock which told her that she was late, yet again. After taking care of her essential needs, she headed down stairs to be greeted by her mother and father at the table eating the first course of the day. Her father was reading the Morning Journal as her mother flipped pages in her Readers Digest. The teen had bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep she had gotten that night.  
  
"I had another dream last night," the teen casually stated.  
  
All reading stopped and a concerned look came to the face of the teen's mother. The teen's mother gave her father a pointed look.  
  
"Was it one of your regular ones, Carrie? Or was there something new in this one?" Her mother asked.  
  
"No mom, there was nothing new. It was just like the rest of them." Carrie said wearily.  
  
"Ok. Lets drop it." Her mother said, ending the conversation.  
  
Her mother had always asked her this question ever since she started having the dreams. She was once taken to a doctor to see if there was something wrong with her. The doctor took her parents into a separate room to talk with them after all the testing was done. When they where heading home she asked them what the doctor had said and they didn't reply. They acted as if she wasn't even there. She had never asked about the visit to the doctor again.  
  
Carrie sighed, wishing that her parents would care about her well being or comfort her instead of ignoring her problem all together. Carrie leaned over to the middle of the dining room table for a piece of toast and then headed out the door to go to work for the day.  
  
Things changed drastically from the sixties to the seventies. In 1977 all anyone wanted to do now, was bum around, smoke some joints and talk all about "free love" and "world peace". With their peace signs and happy-go-lucky colors, the hippies thought they knew it all. Then again, the higher social class was the same, if not worse. They had their views on the work policy. They thought anyone who had enough money shouldn't have to work and anyone who didn't have enough money should submit their- selves to the lowest of the jobs there were. Thankfully, Carrie was in the middle of the two classes.  
  
Work in Stillwater, Oklahoma was hard to find these days. For a fairly sized town, it sure was having its economic problems. Luckily, Carrie knew the manager at The Diction and Dialogue Book Store in town and he decided to pull a few strings to get her a job.  
  
When Carrie got home from work that day she found that she was alone in the house, meaning her parents were working late. She headed up to her room to get changed out of her work clothes and get dinner started. On her way back downstairs after changing, she passed the doorway leading to the attic. Normally, she would have passed right by it without a thought, but this time, since her parents weren't home, she decided to have just a little peak inside. Both of her parents' family photographs and genealogy were up in the attic and never was she allowed up there. Any time she had to do a project on her family she was told to wait at the door to the attic while her parents fetched the materials she needed.  
  
Carrie reached for the doorknob and tried turning, but to her disappointment it was locked. She came to the conclusion that her parents really didn't want anyone going up there and that she was going to find out what was really in the attic once and for all. Of course she wouldn't tell her mother of the escapade that she was about to undergo. After all what she doesn't know, wouldn't hurt her. She rushed downstairs to where they kept all their keys and took a ring of keys that she knew belonged to the garage, the shed and the attic. She raced back up stairs and threw the door to the attic open with the help of the key. The stairs that she had never ventured up, loomed in front of her. Carrie reluctantly started to climb each one of them until she reached the door at the top. With every squeak of the stair, she would jump and think about running back down, locking the door up tight and forgetting the whole adventure all together. She gathered her wits and courage to face whatever her parents where hiding from her all these years.  
  
When she burst through the door it looked like a regular attic. Boxes upon boxes aligned the walls. There was a mannequin in the corner discolored from the dirt and dust that penetrated it. An old typewriter sat in the corner by the mannequin and also an old broken mirror. A locked chest sat in the farthest corner by its lonesome. Curiosity got the better of Carrie and she went to see if she could unlock the chest or if there was a key for it. Rubbing her hand across the dirty box she found Windrixville engraved across the top. Dirt stuck to every crevice of the name. The lock had rusted to the latch of the trunk. She pulled hard trying to loosen it and after a few minutes, she broke the lock right off. She threw the lock away from the chest and prepared her self to see what exactly her parents had been hiding in here for so long. Carrie was certain that this trunk was what held the memories. The hinges squeaked as she carefully opened the treasure chest. Carrie was expecting trinkets or something more valuable to be in the treasure holder, but to her surprise, pictures upon pictures and articles upon articles filled the trunk to the brim instead. At the top of the stack was old black and white photos of her parents standing in front of a seemingly new house. A house she had never seen before. In her father's hand was a sold sign which he held proudly. Her mother had a beautiful and youthful smile on her radiant face. The smile that her mother was famous for back when she was younger was now diminished due to bills, taxes, money, and other day to day problems that she now faced.  
  
As Carrie dug deeper she got into more depressing parts of her parents' history. Photos of funerals and articles of people dying were mixed throughout the pile. At the bottom of the chest was a small shoebox. She took out the box and placed it on the ground next to her. Carefully, she opened the shoe box and at the top of the pile of pictures that lied in side were a pair of baby shoes. She closed the lid on the shoe box, closed the lid on the trunk, picked up the shoe box and descended to the bottom of the attic stairs and locked the door tightly so no one would know that she was ever there. She returned the keys to where they belonged and ran up to her room to discover and learn more about what was in the shoe box. Carrie sat on her bed and slowly took off the cover once more. Photos of two, twin little girls were surrounded by numerous articles and family photos. As she carefully dug deeper, she discovered a gruesome article. One about a tragic loss of a twin.  
  
The Untold Twin  
Three Teenage Rescuers  
  
A fire claimed a little girl's life yesterday in a Windrixville church fire.  
  
Apparently, two twin little girls, ages 5, Carrie and Cassidy Whittaker,  
  
wandered off with some of their friends into an abandoned church while at a  
  
field trip with the rest of their class. While in the church, a fire started and  
  
unexpectedly three teenage boys showed up and rescued all but one little girl,  
  
Cassidy. Two of the three teens were wanted for murder in Tulsa earlier this  
  
month. The youngest of the three Ponyboy Curtis lives with his two brothers...  
  
Carrie stopped reading. She understood now what her family had been keeping from her for all these years. She knew what her dreams were about. Why hadn't they told her though? Why couldn't she know? It was unfair that her life was full of secrets. Noises from the kitchen were heard and Carrie quickly stuffed what she had taken out back into the box and shoved it hastily under her bed. She sat quietly on her bed until her mother showed up in her room asking why she hadn't fixed any dinner before she had gotten home. Carrie just sat quietly as her mother rounded on her. After the tongue-lashing that Carrie had received it was quite clear to her mother that something was wrong.  
  
"Ok what's wrong now? I come up to your room to find you sitting on your bed staring at the wall and now after my lecture you haven't even said you're sorry to me! I can't believe you! You're on restriction for the next three days! Say good bye to the telephone, the television set and your friends. You are to go straight to work then home everyday! Is that understood?...I said is that understood?" her mother exclaimed frostily.  
  
Carrie only nodded her head with out a sound and headed down stairs to make dinner.  
  
The next three days passed uneventful and for Carrie aware- ably painful. She was in mourning for her lost twin that she had only known for five years, but really never known existed. Carrie realized the reason that she had forgotten such a traumatic event was because her body couldn't handle all of the trauma and went into shock forcing herself to forget it ever happened. Sure, there were her dreams, that she fully couldn't understand until now, but those were for release and she hadn't really known the full reason for them.  
  
During the three days of restriction, Carrie pondered whether to contact Ponyboy Curtis or not. By searching further in the shoe box she found articles describing that the other two boys that rescued her were dead and the only person she could contact, if she wanted to, was Ponyboy Curtis. By nightfall of the third day, Carrie was positive she had her answer.  
  
The next day she was off restriction and she knew she had to put her plan in action. At 9:00, an hour before she was supposed to go to work, Carrie called Diction and Dialogue Bookstore to ask if she could have a week absence leave, claiming that she was sick. Next, she called her best friend asking if she could claim that she was to spend the week with her. After a little persuading on her part and two positive answers she went up to her bedroom and searched through her stash of money to see how much she had on her. $178 seemed enough to get her through the week with food and lodging and also the trip there and back. She wanted to leave as soon as possible. She called her mom at work asking if she could stay at her best friends house for this week..  
  
"Maybe Carrie. I'll have to think about it when I get home," her mother answered her the way she always did. When Mrs. Whittaker said maybe it meant a definite no.  
  
"But mom...I need an answer now. Kaitlyn needs to tell her mom so Mrs. Zagone can decide what to fix for dinner to night." Carrie whined.  
  
"FINE CARRIE! Go have a good time. I'll see you next week. Wait... are you going to be going to work during the week?"  
  
"No. I took a week off to spend it with Kaitlyn."  
  
"Ok, have fun. Love you."  
  
"Bye Mom." Carrie hung up with those final words.  
  
Carrie rushed up stairs to start packing. After an hour of getting everything together Carrie headed downstairs to write a note saying that she already went to Kaitlyns' house and not to expect her for dinner that night. With one last phone call to Kaitlyn, she was on her way to Tulsa from Stillwater.  
  
Carrie arrived in the west side of Tulsa in an hour of driving. She knew that Ponyboy lived in the more poverty side of town than what she saw here. Rich mansions filled the streets along with classy shops and restaurants. Carrie felt out of place more than anything here in this side of town. The mansions' had clean cut yards and perfectly groomed bushes and flower beds. Though Carrie's house and yard wasn't the neatest on the block, she didn't have the worst looking home in the town. In fact, her home looked better than most. Expensive cars also filled the driveway, making her feel very uncomfortable about her used car. Her car wasn't rundown like some of the hunk of junks' found on the street in her home town, but Carrie could admit that it needed a little work, well, a lot of work. As Carrie kept driving she noticed a very dramatic change in scenery. New mansions turned into broken down shacks. Classy restaurants and shops turned into rowdy bars and discount stores. The well dressed people turned into old bums, walking the street. Everything that seemed new and clean, turned into something old and broken. Carrie, discovering that she needed gas, kept a look out for a gas station nearby. She made a hard right into the small parking lot of a gas station called S and S Service Station.  
  
Carrie walked into the station and she was immediately confronted by the glares of the other people in the tiny store. Most people were women and teenage girls, actually all of them were in some way a female. She looked around nervously hoping to find some service, when a man in his late twenties, early thirties arrived wiping his hands on a greasy rag and giving an estimate on a repair to a lady standing near the register. When the lady was taken care of and gone the man paused and looked around the room for the next customer.  
  
"Who's next?" The man said in an annoyed fashion.  
  
Carrie stepped up. "I think they," Carrie gestured to the ladies huddled in the corner, "were here before me."  
  
"Ah...don't worry bout them. They come in here every day for no God damn reason at all." The man glared at the group, his dark swirled hair hung limp in his face like a rag dolls' would.  
  
"Well then I guess I'm next."  
  
"What can I get ya for?"  
  
"All I want is gas." She pointed to her tiny car out side waiting for a refill.  
  
"Ok then."  
  
The man walked outside, Carrie in tow. As he filled up the car Carrie and the man started a conversation.  
  
"So where ya from?" The man asked knowing she wasn't from around here by the way she acted.  
  
"How'd ya know I'm not from here?" Carrie asked in wonder.  
  
"I could just tell...so ya gonna tell me or do I have ta beat it outta you?" The man said jokingly.  
  
"I'm from Stillwater. Actually I came up here looking for someone. I think I'm in the right side of town, so hopefully I'll find him."  
  
"What's his name? Maybe I'll know him." The man asked after replacing the gas nozzle on its hook.  
  
Carrie reached into the front seat of her car and pulled out the first article in the shoebox. She skimmed through it real quick looking for the name.  
  
"Ponyboy Curtis. That's his name."  
  
The man's face got real puzzled when Carrie said the name a loud. The man stuck out his hand as if waiting for it to be shook.  
  
"The names Steve Randle. I own this place along with a friend of mine. C'mon I'll take you to him." The man said still wondering what Carrie wanted with this Ponyboy Curtis.  
  
Steve led the way to the garage, where rock and roll music from the sixties filled the air. Another man was stationed there working on the transmission of another car. The man working was handsome in a movie star sort-of-way. He had wheat gold hair that was in a swirl like the boys all used to wear in the late fifties to late sixties. He had a resemblance to the young boy in Carrie's article, which made Carrie wonder if they where father and son or brothers or just relatives of some sort.  
  
"Oh Soda buddy, we have a visitor." The man named Steve Randle said aloud.  
  
The other man named Soda, who was singing along to the music, quickly turned around to see who was bothering him this time. If he didn't get the problems worked out in this car by Friday the man who owned it would have his hide. Soda saw the girl that was slightly hiding behind Steve and excused himself from his work to introduce him self.  
  
"Hi. I'm Sodapop Curtis. Is there anything that you needed?"  
  
The girl's eyes drew wide at the sound of his last name. He was the brother of Ponyboy, he had to be. This man only looked a few years older than what Ponyboy should look now, eleven years later.  
  
"Hi. I'm Carrie Whittaker. I would like to speak with a mister Ponyboy Curtis if I can."  
  
Soda looked at her questioningly. What did this teenage girl want with Pony?  
  
"I'm his brother, I can take you to him after work today, If you wanna stick around."  
  
"Well I need to go look for a motel room or something. I have no place to sleep. Maybe we could get together tomorrow and you could show me to him then?" By then Steve had already left the two to go wait on another customer.  
  
Soda gave her a light grin. Carrie could tell that this man was what the mob of girls came to see.  
  
"Tell ya what, I'll help you find a motel room when I get off work. I know where the good places are. I don't think you wanna be sleeping in a trashy one, like the ones in this neighborhood. I'll even show you around town a little and explain about the city. I'll take you to Pony afterward. Is that ok?"  
  
"Yeah, that's fine."  
  
"Ok then just stick around, I should be getting off in about an hour."  
  
"Ok then." Carrie left the man to his own devices and headed back into the store.  
  
Steve didn't say a word as she entered the building from the garage. Most of the females in the room had dispersed, only a few lingered, hoping to get lucky and see the famous grin that dwelled here. Carrie got a coke and a package of chips and headed to the counter to pay for the supplies and the gas she had gotten earlier.  
  
"So is Soda gonna take you to Pony?" Steve asked while ringing up her things.  
  
"Yeah after work. He said just to stick around and that he's getting off in an hour. How much is that?"  
  
"$6.75" Carrie handed him the money.  
  
After paying, Steve gestured behind him to the door leading to the garage, the one she had entered through only moments ago. Carrie got the signal that was telling her that she could go back there to hangout until the work hour was over.  
  
Right at five, after an hour of waiting, Soda and Steve closed the shop.  
  
"Ok," Soda turned to Carrie, "Lets go find you a place to stay."  
  
Soda turned to Steve, "Go ahead and take the truck to my house. I'll see you there later." Steve nodded and headed off to Soda's house.  
  
Carrie and Soda walked to the only car in the parking lot and got in. Carrie's car was pretty clean, with only a few old fast food bags. Her car clearly showed her sense of taste and style. Hanging from the rearview mirror was a lei that matched the design on her seat and steering wheel covers. Blue Rosary beads also hung beside the lei as a faithful companion. Soda was impressed with the car that she had to desperately saved up for. It was a 1964 Mustang Convertible, not really in prime condition, but still well cared for, for being thirteen years old. It needed work he could see, a new paint job could also be added to the list of things that needed to be done to the classic machine. Carrie had saved since she was 13 to get a car and by the time she was fifteen going on sixteen she had almost enough money to buy the car. With a little help from her parents she got the car that she wanted and drove off with it on her sixteenth birthday.  
  
As she and Soda drove down the road, he pointed out some of the places he used to bum around as a kid. Among the things she remembered him pointing out was the Dingo, the Admiral Twin Drive-in movie theater, that still showed two shows every week night and three on weekends and Norvell Park. After driving past a few other places Soda started to explain the difference between the social classes in the city.  
  
"As you can see from the places I've taken you there's a difference between the classes here. You see, I live on the Eastside. That's where greasers live and that's what the low class people are called. It's different on the Westside though. Every one around here calls the those richies, Soc's, short for socials. They jump us, we rumble with them. Its become a natural thing here. They drive by calling us names, we slash their tires and mess up their cars. Its become a real riot. The funny thing is, the middle class really don't have a side. They don't fight like them and they don't fight us. They're almost like the damn peacekeepers. Well let's get you a hotel room."  
  
After searching through middle class territory, Carrie and Soda found a respectable room that wasn't too expensive. After un packing her things and since her tour of the city was over Soda decided it was time to see Ponyboy.  
  
"Ok, since you done un packing, I think its time I took you to Ponyboy."  
  
Carrie nodded her head in agreement and ushered Soda out of her motel room and locked the door. After a few directions, to a lower class neighbor hood, they arrived to a run-down house. Carrie cut the engine and silently sat in the car as if she was waiting for directions. Soda looked at her weirdly.  
  
"What's the matter?"  
  
"What if he doesn't want to talk to me? I guess I would have came down here for nothing. I wont really ever know what happened in the fire..."  
  
"What fire?" Soda asked perplexed.  
  
Carrie looked at him sadly.  
  
"The one I was in when I was little, the one my twin died in."  
  
Soda sat back into the seat and tried to remember a fire Pony was involved in and out of nowhere memories came rushing in around him. He remembered Dally and Johnny. How Johnny died because of the burns on his body from a fire. He remembered how Dally went crazy that night, robbed a grocery store and pulled a heater out on the cops. He was dead before he even hit the ground. Memories swirled around him. Ponyboy in denial. Him, running from his brothers when they got into their first argument since Pony had been back. The first time they went to the lot without Johnny or Dally. His sense came back to him as he looked over at Carrie.  
  
'She must have been only 5 or 6 when she was on that fire. She lost a sister? I thought Pony and Johnny got all the kids out of the church.'  
  
"C'mon. Ya gotta face your demons sometime." Soda pulled Carrie out of the car. "Pony's a writer now. He lives here with a couple of friends. Hopefully he's here."  
  
The two walked up the sidewalk toward the house which was emitting the sounds of laughter and music. They pushed open the door and everything stopped. The group inside looked at them and after they were done sizing up Carrie, they invited them into the home. A few girls were there sitting in the guys laps and on other assortment of chairs.  
  
"Hey Soda, what brings you here?" One boy piped up.  
  
"I'm looking for Pony. Ya'll seen him?"  
  
"Yeah, he's in the his room, if you wanna go back there. I think he's sleeping."  
  
"Ok thanks Greg."  
  
Soda led Carrie down the hall to one of the four rooms in the house. He pushed open the door and found out that "Greg" was right. The person on the bed was indeed Ponyboy and he was sleeping. He was sprawled on the bed, a few limbs hanging off the side and he was shirtless. He was a handsome man, with reddish- brown hair that could be properly named copper. He had well defined biceps and abs. They weren't the size of a body builders, but fit his size. He looked around 24 and about 5'9. His jeans were black and fit him nicely. They were rolled up to his ankles and he didn't have on any socks or shoes. He looked comfortable sleeping there on top of the sheets.  
  
Soda motioned to the chair that sat across the room in the corner. Carrie walked over to it and sat down. Soda grinned at her and shook his brother awake.  
  
"Pony, Pony, c'mon Pony wake up! There's someone here that wants to talk with you."  
  
Pony slowly opened his eyes to give his brother an evil look for waking him and turned over to go back to sleep.  
  
"C'mon Pony you gotta wake up...Your late for school!"  
  
With that, Pony shot up in his bed and ran to the closet. Halfway there he stopped and turned around to face Soda with a dirty look.  
  
"I don't go ta school anymore Soda."  
  
Soda grinned at Carrie and burst out laughing at the torture he inflicted on his brother. Carrie quietly laughed at Sodas antics. Pony turned toward the chuckle, not realizing another was in the room. He looked strangely at this new comer and turned back to the elder.  
  
"Soda? Who's this?"  
  
"This is Carrie Whittaker. She's come all the way from...where did you come from?" He asked her.  
  
"Stillwater."  
  
"Yeah... Stillwater. She came from Stillwater to talk to you."  
  
"To talk to me? O...k." Soda quietly left the room.  
  
Silence filled the room and uncomfortably Pony shifted his weight from foot to foot. He sighed, went to his night stand, lit a cigarette and laid on the bed.  
  
"So," Pony said impatiently, taking a drag on his smoke, "talk."  
  
Carrie sighed audibly.  
  
"I don't know where to start. I guess I should say that I have been having nightmares since I've been little. I didn't know what they were about and every time I went to my parents for help, they blew me off. I knew they were hiding something from me and since they never let me up in the attic I knew that's where I needed to look. When I got up there I came across a chest labeled Windrixville. I found an article in there describing the fire and how you and a friend, Johnny, saved those little kids. I was one of those little kids..." She was cut off.  
  
"Look, I don't wanna talk about this so why don't you get the hell out of my house!" Ponyboy exclaimed suddenly.  
  
Carrie got to her feet.  
  
"Please...just hear me out!"  
  
"No! Get out!" He pointed to the door.  
  
Carrie hurried to the door and with a wide eyed look, she took off through the door. She traveled to the living room where Soda was watching the television and with out a word to anyone, she took off to her car. She sat silently in the car until Soda knocked on her window. She unlocked the door and Soda climbed in beside her.  
  
"What happened in there?"  
  
"He kicked me out. I was telling him about how I found an article describing the fire and how he and his friend Johnny saved me. Then he told me that he didn't want to talk about it and said to get out of his house. So here I am." Tears rolled down her cheeks.  
  
Soda pulled her close and gave her a hug while she cried on his shoulder.  
  
"All I wanted to do was ask him what happened in there. If he had seen my twin or didn't know there was another in the building. And to thank him for saving my life. He kicked me out." Her words were mumbled into Soda's shoulder while he rubbed her back soothingly.  
  
"Do you want me to talk to him?"  
  
"Yes please."  
  
"Ok do you want me to do it right now or wait until tomorrow?"  
  
"How bout tomorrow? I don't wanna face him right now."  
  
"Ok Carrie." He replied.  
  
Carrie started the car and after basic directions they were at Soda's house.  
  
"Look Carrie, Pony didn't mean anything by kicking you out. Well I guess he did, but the reason he was rough was because of the memories that come with you. We all had a bad time when Johnny and Dally died. I guess he didn't want any memories resurfacing. I'm sorry he acted like that." He told her as they sat in the car.  
  
Carrie nodded her head quietly.  
  
"Hey...cheer up! Do you wanna come in for dinner? It'll be good! My girlfriend is cooking! And man, is she a good cook!"  
  
Carrie smiled at his enthusiasm and nodded her head.  
  
"Sure."  
  
They headed up the drive to the house. Carrie noticed the truck that Soda had instructed to be driven to his house and another car parked beside it. The television was going when they walked into the house. A young woman was seated beside the man that Carrie had met earlier at S and S Service Station. The man and woman turned to her and Soda and the woman stood up and introduced herself to the stranger.  
  
"Hi. I'm Morgan Costello. What's your name sweetie? Where are you from? Where did you pick her up Soda?" Carrie was bombarded with questions.  
  
Soda took the liberty to reply for her since she was still in a dazed state at the game of twenty questions.  
  
"Her name is Carrie Whittaker. She's from Stillwater. And I didn't pick her up, me and Steve met her at the Station. She's down her to see Ponyboy. I took her to him."  
  
"Soda! I wasn't talking to you!" Morgan replied with vehemence and sat down beside her male companion in a huff.  
  
Soda merely rolled his eyes at Steve's latest girlfriend. She was such a ditz, but managed to hang on to Steve for the longest time. Normally when one thought of a ditz, it was of a woman with big boobs and long blonde hair, with the attention span of a fly. Morgan was a contradictory in herself concerning her physical image, with her small chest and short brunette hair. But Morgan was ditzy and she couldn't be more prouder.  
  
Soda led Carrie into the kitchen where his girlfriend was stationed, cooking dinner. The unknown woman, was just finished chopping carrots when she heard Soda clear his throat to announce his and Carries presence. The woman turned around to see her boyfriend standing with a teenage girl in the doorway to the kitchen. She wiped her hands off on a towel and threw her arms around Soda's shoulders and gave him a hearty kiss, welcoming him home. The display of affection made Carrie very uncomfortable. The woman broke her embrace and turned to Carrie to introduce herself.  
  
"Hi. I'm Terri Claybourne. What's your name?" Terri was definitely more gentler and intelligent of the two woman.  
  
"My names Carrie...Whittaker. I'm from Stillwater and I just came down to talk to Ponyboy. I have a few things to discuss with him. So here I am."  
  
"How old are you? You don't look old enough to come here by yourself."  
  
Carrie blushed at her own stupidity and foolishness.  
  
"Yeah, I guess it was kinda the wrong thing to come down here by myself, but my parents wouldn't have come with me and what I need to talk with Ponyboy is really important. Something I need to know."  
  
Terri gave the younger a questioning look, but didn't push the matter.  
  
"I take it your staying for dinner?'  
  
Carrie gave her a shy look. "If you don't mind."  
  
"Oh don't worry about it. It'll be done in a few. Go ahead and go in the living room and make your self at home."  
  
Dinner was nothing less than spectacular. After spending a few hours with the two couples, Carrie decided it was time for her to leave. Soda kissed his girlfriend goodbye and grabbed his keys and told Carrie to follow him to the motel. They pulled into the parking lot and got out of the truck. Soda walked Carrie to her door and made sure she was settled for the night. Soda made plans with her to pick her up tomorrow and bring her over to the S & S with him in the morning. He had also suggested that they go back over to where Ponyboy lived and try talking to him again. They agreed to the arrangements and went their separate ways for the night.  
  
Morning came as no surprise to anyone. The morning rays pilfered the room, lighting all in its path. With the sun beams hitting Carrie in the face, she got up and took her shower and got ready for the day that was going to be spent helping Soda fix cars. A little after 7:30 a knock on her door resounded through the room. She opened the door expecting Soda, but instead there stood Steve.  
  
"C'mon let's go or we'll be late." He seemed agitated.  
  
Carrie followed him out the door to his beat up truck. When they arrived at S & S, Soda had already gotten to work on some of the cars hoping to finish at least one of them before lunch. Steve took off to the front of the building where the convenient store was located. Carrie was jealous. Steve got to sit in the air conditioned building and she and Soda would be out in the stifling room that smelled of gas and grease. Throughout the day, Soda gave minor tips to Carrie on maintaining cars which she decided to store up in her memory knowing that she would need it someday. Though Carrie didn't really work on the cars she was the middleman.  
  
'Go get that wrench for me Carrie.'  
  
'Hey! Could ya grab that screwdriver? Thanks hun.'  
  
'Wait, I need that gas can over there.'  
  
She had been back and forth in the garage so many time today that she felt as if she practically knew the place top to bottom.  
  
Lunch soon arrived. Carrie and Soda took off to grab a bite to eat, both being very hungry from the work that they had completed. The Tasty Freeze was packed when they stepped inside the refrigerated fast food restaurant. They stood in line to order their food. Picking up the trays, Carrie and Soda made their way to the dining area. To their surprise Pony and the same group of friends were there already eating. Soda gestured to Carrie to walk over there with him. Soda was standing in front of Pony's table when a hush came over the bunch.  
  
"C'mon Pony. Sit with us for a while."  
  
'Us?' Pony looked around Soda to find Carrie slightly behind him as if she was hiding.  
  
"Naw. That's ok." He turned from Soda to talk to his other friends that were there.  
  
"I mean it Pony. Come sit with us. NOW!" Soda didn't exactly yell out, but in a fairly loud voice he demanded him.  
  
Pony sighed at got up and followed Soda and Carrie to an empty table in the outside patio. He sat down dejectedly and crossed his arms over his chest like a pouting five year old. It was quite a funny sight to see a 24 year old man acting this way. He sat quietly while Soda and Carrie made small talk while they ate. Once done, Soda took Carrie and his own trash to the garbage can and left Carrie and Pony together. Pony sighed.  
  
"Look I'm sorry the way I acted yesterday. I yelled at you about something you really don't understand. I cant talk about it. I don't want to. Its too hard and I don't want to think about what happened." Pony started the conversation that was already too hard for him to talk about.  
  
"Please just hear me out. Let me ask a few things about the fire and what happened." Carrie desperately needed to know what happened in her past.  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No. The matter is closed."  
  
Carrie didn't reply. She didn't need to. Pony got up and made his way back to his waiting friends. Soda returned moments later. It was obvious that he stalled himself from coming back so Pony and Carrie could have a little time together.  
  
"Did he say anything?" Soda asked quietly on their way back to the S & S.  
  
"No. Nothing."  
  
"I'm taking you to his house tonight. Maybe you can get something out of him then."  
  
"Yeah maybe." Carrie replied wistfully as she walked into the door of the convenient store. She hoped that the man would come around and see her side and talk about what happened. If not for his own sake at least for hers.  
  
It was Steve's turn for lunch and he made his way out the door for the free hour. Soda explained that it was routine. Soda would work on the cars for the morning and then take a lunch break and when he got back he would take over the convenient store for the rest of the day while Steve took his lunch break and worked on cars in the afternoon. Carrie believed that it was Soda that got the better end of the deal. Since the garage was not air conditioned, it got stifling in there in the hot afternoons. In the morning it wasn't so bad though it was pretty hot. Steve took whatever he could get though. He loved to work on cars. He wanted to work on them longer than Soda did and if that meant working in the stifling room, then so be it.  
  
Work was done at 5:30. Soda dropped Steve off at the house and drove to Ponyboy's that was just around the block from his own house. The house was quiet and the doors unlocked. Pony was influenced from his own days of growing up and convinced his roommates that it was ok to leave the door unlocked throughout the night. Soda sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. He nodded his head toward Pony's room signaling that he wanted her to go and talk with him; if he was even here. She quickly wondered to his room. He was asleep again and Carrie sat in his desk chair that faced the bed. He was snoring softly and pieces of his hair fell over his eyes. He was quite handsome. She wondered if he had a girlfriend.  
  
'Of course he does. Who wouldn't want to be with him?' she thought with a blush creeping up on her cheeks.  
  
She crept toward his bed. She sat on his bed and gently rocked his shoulder back and forth in a waking motion. He stirred. His eyes opened and he focused on Carrie. He stretched his arms out and yawned. His action reminded Carrie of a five year old waking from his afternoon nap. It was cute to say the least. She grinned at him.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Ponyboy said with another yawn.  
  
"Soda drove me here. He's out in the living room."  
  
Ponyboy looked at her. He knew why she was here. She wanted information that he couldn't give. The pain was still too deep to even think about exploring that part of his life. Though it had been years since he even thought about Johnny and Dally, the pain was still fresh in his memory. He refused to talk about it. Especially with some girl that shows up out of the blue.  
  
"I know why you're here," Pony stated.  
  
"I'm sure you do. Please Pony! I need to know. Talk to me. If not for your sake then for mine. This is gnawing at me. I feel so guilty. Worse. My parents even hid it from me for the past eleven years. I need to know what happened in there." Tears silently started to roll  
  
down her face one by one.  
  
Pony, never one to like seeing girls cry, took her into his arms and let her cry herself out. Her sobs raked her body. Vibrations from her body beat Pony in his chest. He rubbed her back soothingly until her sobs became quiet hiccups. This girl that was latched on to him was in dire need of the existing memory that pained him so. She needed it for her sake and now that he had seen her vulnerability he was willing to give it. It might take some time, some pain, and some thinking, but overall he would give her what she needed.  
  
"Carrie. I'll tell you what you want to know." He whispered softly into her hair.  
  
Carrie sniffed and wiped her eyes dry.  
  
"Really?" She looked up at him.  
  
He looked down at her.  
  
"Really. But you have to promise to not interrupt me until I'm done. If I'm stopped, I don't think I can go on. You can ask your questions at the end."  
  
"Okay, I promise."  
  
"Where should I begin? I was about 15. My curfew was about 11:30 and I had accidentally fell asleep in an empty lot with my best friend, Johnny. I was woken by Johnny a few hours later..."  
  
Pony started in with his story. About 3 hours and a pack of cigarettes later he was done. There had been tons of pauses and intermissions on the story so Pony could get his emotions in check and say the story straight.  
  
"What about my twin? Did you know that there was another little girl in the building? Did you even see her?" Carrie asked when his story was over.  
  
Pony paused. He didn't remember a twin, another little girl or anything of the sort.  
  
"No." He said finally. "We didn't know she was in there. If we did we would have done all that we could to get her out with the rest."  
  
Tears rolled down Carries cheeks for the second time that day.  
  
"Thank you Pony. That's all I really need to know....Pony?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I just want to thank you for...for saving my life." She looked at her immobile hands and up to him.  
  
Pony's guilt, suffering, pain, hate, and all the other negative emotions that he carried vanished. The retelling of the story to this young woman had softened his heart and his misery disappeared. His memories of Johnny and Dally became clear. He remembered the good times spent with each other, No more would he focus on the bad times. He wanted to change his attitude and not be so snappy all the time. This girls innocence triggered a change. And his change started now. He hugged her closer to him.  
  
"Your welcome, Carrie. Your truly welcome."  
  
The next few days had come and gone and it was time for Carrie to leave. Carrie had grieved for her lost twin. It was over. She had closer, she knew she had finished what she came to do. Not only was it to find some answers for herself, but to also help one man find closer. She figured it was God that led her to him. If God hadn't Pony would have self destruct with the way thing were going in his life. She didn't know that he would be needing her as much as she needed him though until she got there. But when she found out that he needed her help with the pain that he still carried around she did all that she could. It worked. She spent the remaining days with him, going over their emotions, their stories, their backgrounds. They also discussed other things too; things not so pressing and serious. They talked about movies, books, music, friends and anything else that came into mind.  
  
Carrie was leaning against the counter of the S & S when it was time for her to say good bye. Outside, Steve was putting gas in her car. She had a few snacks waiting for purchase. Steve returned and rang up everything that she bought. She headed toward her car and got ready for the days drive home. Pony, Steve, and Soda were standing there waiting for their goodbye. Though it had been only a few days since she met them she was rather fond of Soda's smile and enthusiastic ways, Steve's glares and negative comments, and Pony's innocence that she had unsheathed. She would miss each one of them. They all had their own thing that made them worth while. She hugged Soda and Steve. It was Pony's turn for a hug. She gently wrapped her arms around the taller man. This was their goodbye. It was a special moment for both. Because of Carrie, Pony had revolutions in his life and he was grateful.  
  
"Be safe. Promise to come visit us. Promise to visit me. I need to see you again someday. Promise." Pony said vehemently.  
  
"I promise. Goodbye Ponyboy. I hope that my visit has helped you as it helped me." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
Carrie got into her car and drove off. Halfway home she unrolled the windows, turned her music the loudest it could go and drove the fastest she had ever driven. Her hair flew out behind her and she enjoyed every minute. She knew that her mission for herself and someone else was complete. She had helped a man that was on his way to becoming a cynical, bitter person. He was no longer that. Their talks had helped him more than she could ever know. Funny thing was, she didn't even know that she helped him until it was all over. 


End file.
